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Desperation 1996
Part I - Highway 50: In the House of the Wolf, the House of the Scorpion. Chapter 1 Subchapter 2 *pg. 11 *#Stephen King writes "…what's that old Van Halen Album title? Eat Em and Smile?". This is actually a David Lee Roth album released July 7, 1986. He had left Van Halen in 1985. Chapter 5 Subchapter 1 *pg. 154 *#(Firearm errors) After retrieving the shotgun from where Mary dropped it, Entragian stood up "…flipping a lever on the side of the shotgun as he did so. It broke open…". Break action shotguns have the lever on top of the gun not the side --See Photo--. Subchapter 2 *pg. 162 *#When David enters the hospital room, "Brian's eyes had looked up at him…" and "They were open…". Yet when David gets home (pg. 177), Mrs Ross calls and tells David "…Brian opened his eyes…". Subchapter 3 *pg. 189 *# David remembers a time his mother "flamed" a candidate campaigning in a local supermarket. Among the things she yells, is "…had he ever in his life converted the six-ten split…". The six and ten pins, are right next to each other --See Photo-- and are not a split. Stephen King probably meant to say "the seven-ten split" which is the most difficult split in bowling. Part II - Desperation: in these Silences Something May rise. Chapter 2 Subchapter 5 *pg. 270 *#(Firearm errors) David acquires the cops revolver after escaping the cell. He looks at the front of the cylinder and sees "…bullet--heads in every hole he could see". The next line tells us "The first chamber might be empty—in the movies cops sometimes did that to keep from shooting themselves by accident—but he reckoned that wouldn't matter if he pulled the trigger at least twice…". David just saw the chambers were full, so the first trigger pull will be on a loaded chamber. *#*On older revolvers it is wise to keep one chamber empty, but that is the chamber that the hammer is resting on. Old guns can be fired if the hammer is struck (ie. from being dropped). There would never be a need to keep the next cylinder in line unloaded. Chapter 3 Subchapter 2 *pg. 279 *#(Firearm errors) When David fires the .45 at the coyote, we read that Johnny "…had heard the slugs go home…". This is impossible. Not only are the sounds of impacts with flesh very quiet, the bullets are traveling faster than the speed of sound so the bullets would hit the coyote while the sound of the gunshot was still occurring so there is no way Johnny heard the impact over the sound of the .45 being fired. Subchapter 3 *pg. 286-290 *#After escaping the jail, Johnny finds: *#*a pistol in a "…box marked RUGER…" *#*the gun-rack with "…half a dozen rifles and a shotgun…". *#*an "…exceedingly well stocked ammo chest." *#**So they found 6 rifles, 1 shotgun, and 1 pistol, but only take 3 rifles and 1 shotgun back with them. This leads to the following six (6) problems. ---- pg. 287 (Firearm errors) Johnny uses the keys to unlock the guns and "—a Remington .30-.06— came tumbling out.". The correct designation is .30-06. He repeats this error several times in the rest of the book (pg. 437 for example). pg. 290 Johnny breaks the lock on the ammo chest and "…took eight or nine boxes of shells, ones he hoped would fit the weapons…". Hoped? He's depending on these guns to save their lives and he doesn't bother to read the boxes to match calibers to the guns? Most guns have the caliber stamped on them so it would be easy. The golf bag they put the guns and "eight or nine boxes of shells" in (pg. 290) ends up to be too heavy for Johnny to carry. The average long gun weighs around 5-8 pounds. Taking the upper range gives us 8 lbs x 4 long guns = 32 pounds. A box of rifle ammo weighs around 9oz multiplied by the 9 boxes gives us 81oz or just over 5 pounds. So Johnny is incapable of carrying a 37 pound bag with a shoulder strap? What a wimp! He isn't carrying this on some long hike, just next door into the room where the rest of the group is. pg. 292 (Firearm errors) When Johnny and Mary bring the guns to the rest of the group we are told "…Billingsley pulled the rifles out…". What happened to the shotgun? The shotgun does reappear a few lines down when Mary takes it. (Firearm errors) Billingsley says "You didn't get nothing that'll fit that Mossberg,…" and "…it's chambered for .22s.". So the Mossberg is a .22 rifle. Johnny ends up getting stuck with this rifle at the bottom of this page. However Johnny is later (Ch 4, Subch. 1, pg. 311), jealous of Ralph Carver because "…Mr. Suburban Ohio's rifle was loaded, unlike the Mossberg shotgun which Johnny now picked up.". Stephen King had just told us the Mossberg was a .22 Rifle! Johnny is left carrying a .22 with no ammo. Why wouldn't they take 2 minutes to either go back for ammo for the .22 or to get one of the 3 rifles they left behind and ammo for it? They had plenty of time. They could have done this while they debated what to do next, rather than just standing in the street. They could have even made this trip while David made the phone call to Steve. Wouldn't that have been better than leaving a man armed with an empty gun? ---- Subchapter 5 *pg. 306 *#The buzzards start slamming into the truck. One hits the passenger window "…like a bomb.." and "The glass turned milky and sagged in toward her…". However when Steve Parks (Ch. 4, Subch. 2, pg. 316), he looks through that window looking for a spot. Also, (Part V - Highway 50: Excused Early: Ch. 1, Subch. 1, pg. 675 ) he looks through that window again using the passenger window. With the window broken as it was, he couldn't look through it. Chapter 5 Subchapter 2 *pg. 347 *#Mary Jackson had said she needed to "go pee". Tom Billingsley mentions Mary hasn't gone yet, Mary implies she can wait when she replies "I've got good kidneys…". Urine is stored in the bladder, the kidneys only produce it. Part III - The American West: Legendary Shadows Chapter 1 Subchapter 4 *pg. 368 *#Tim Billingsley turns on the lights. Why is the power still turned on in a building that has been abandoned for over 10 years? *pg. 390- *#While the group is hold up in the "The American West" -the old cinema-, Ralph thinks "There's only seven of us…". There are actually eight(8). Those in attendance are (Ch. 1, Subch. 1, pgs. 368-372): *##Steve Ames - Who says of the theater "This is amazing." (pg. 368) *##Cynthia Smith - Thinks the theater is "F****ng weird…" (pg. 368) *##Tom Billingsley - "…turned on the pinspots above the screen…" (pg. 368) *##Johnny Marinville - Wonders if the stage had "…ever been used?" (pg. 369) *##Ralph Carver - "…sat down in a wing-chair…" (pg. 370) *##David Carver - "…went over to the television." (pg. 370) *##Mary Jackson - "…walking around the onstage living room…" (pg. 371) *##Audrey Wyler - "…halfway between the stage-left entrance…" (pg. 372) Part IV - The China Pit: God is Cruel Chapter 2 Subchapter 2 *pg. 557 *#(Firearm errors) Ripton has several firearms. Among them is a Ruger Speed-Six which Stephen King tells us is "…useless as a primary weapon…" and "…not accurate at a distance greater than a dozen feet…". Handgun are less accurate than rifles, but to claim they aren't accurate past 12 feet is just silly. People make 100 yard (300 feet) shots with handguns. *#One of Ripton's other guns was a "…completely illegal Iver Johnson auto under a blanket. Next to it are two dozen thirty round clips in a Nike shoebox.". Two problems. *#*Iver Johnson was a firearm manufacturer beteen 1871 & 1993 known primarily for their top break revolvers that they named “Safety Automatic” due to the transfer bar and "automatic ejection" of cartridges upon opening the revolver. *#*They're called Magazines, not clips. *#*Revolvers do not use magazines. Chapter 5 Subchapter 3 *pg. 642 *#(Firearm errors) Steve describes one of the bodies as "…a guy with a .30-.30 haircut.". The correct designation is ".30-30". *#*King makes the same error in Apt Pupil, The Stand, and 'Salem's Lot. -- Misc. Not errors, but interesting trivia: *Cover *#This book was released at the same time as "The Regulators", and the two covers form one picture when placed side by side. :::: *Ch. 2, Subch. 1, pgs. 399-400 *#Audrey tells the story of getting a .22 as a kid and subsequently shooting a bluejay. This story is similar to Todd's bluejay encounter in "Different Seasons: Apt Pupil" (Ch. 9 pgs. 176-177). Both are said to aproach a dying blue-jay, and watching its beak opening and closing very slowly. ( Note: All page numbers are from the Viking hardcover, unless otherwise noted. ) ---- This page was last modified on / / Category:Content Category:Books Category:Books-Novels